(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, more particularly to a wire-to-board connector for coupling a circuit board electrically to a transmission wire unit.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connectors play a major role in the computer industry, because several peripheral devices (such as mouse, monitor, keyboard, printer, network) are coupled to the central processing unit of a computer set via the connectors for data transmission. They are also used for signal transmission between several modules employed in the main system of the computer set. The quality and reliability of the connector may enhance or affect the smooth operation of the entire system of the computer set.
Presently, there are several types of electrical connectors available in the market, namely, board-to-board connector, wire-to-board connector, wire-to-wire connector and etc. Each connector is used for coupling a circuit board electrically to a transmission wire unit. A conventional wire-to-board connector generally includes a plug receptacle and a mating header connected physically to the plug receptacle for establishing a signal communication therebetween.
FIG. 1A shows an exploded view of a conventional wire-to-board that is used for coupling electrically a circuit board 12 to a transmission wire unit 11. The conventional wire-to-board connector generally includes a plug receptacle 14 and a mating header 13. The plug receptacle 14 is mounted securely on the circuit board 12, and has a receiving chamber 140 and a plurality of parallel conductive pins 141 which are in electrical communication with the circuits (not visible) of the circuit board 12 and which project partially into the receiving chamber 140. The mating header 13 is formed with a plurality of parallel through holes 131 for receiving one end portions the transmission wires of the transmission wire unit 11, as best shown in FIG. 1B.
As shown in FIG. 2, when it is desired to couple the circuit board 12 electrically to the transmission wire unit 11, the mating header 13 can be inserted into the receiving chamber 140 in the plug receptacle 14, wherein the conductive pins 141 respectively extend into the holes 131 in the mating header 13 to contact the transmission wires of the transmission wire unit 11, thereby establishing an electrical communication between the circuit board 12 and the transmission wire unit 11.
Some drawbacks resulting from the use of the aforesaid conventional wire-to-board connector are as follows:
(1) It is laborious to assemble manually the mating header 13 and the plug receptacle 14, because the eyes and hands of the assembler must observed continuously in order to align the through holes 131 of the mating header 13 with respect to the conductive pins 141 of the plug receptacle 14; and
(2) Un-alignment of the holes in the mating header 13 and unstable handling of the latter may result in collision between the conducting pins 141 and the mating header 13, hence bending and ruin of the conducting pins 141, thereby causing undesired long assembly time and waste of human labor, which in turn, results in low production.
Therefore, the present invention is to find a way to improve the structure of the conventional wire-to-board connector for overcoming the drawbacks encountered during use.